Racquets having strings interwoven in a generally oval frame are used for sports such as tennis, racquetball, squash or badminton. Although strings are typically tightly interwoven, the strings undergo deforming forces that tend to force them from their desired orthogonal, grid-like relationships into misalignment. This misalignment affects the tension of the strings themselves, and alters the true hitting surface, which may result in an uneven or unpredictable force on the ball, and a miss-hit. As a result, it is not uncommon to see players realigning the strings with his/her fingers during a match.
While devices exist for realigning racquet strings, most are cumbersome to use or bulky arrangements that cannot typically be carried with the player on the court. Consequently, the player must frequently retreat to the sidelines to realign racquet strings. For example, devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,489,942, 4,989,864, and 5,441,258 include large grid-like patterns of protrusions that are designed to engage the openings between the strings of the racquet substantially simultaneously. The protrusions are narrower at the tip than at their base such that as they are forced into the openings between the strings, the strings move from the tip outward along the slanted or rounded surfaces of the protrusion to the enlarged base, the strings are forced back into their proper alignment. These arrangements, however, typically require the racquet to be placed on a flat surface or otherwise supported in order to facilitate application of an appropriate straightening force to the strings. Although the arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,489,942 and 5,441,258 attempt to minimize or eliminate the need for such external support by providing a cover hinged to the aligning base or a bracket for pivoting the base to the racquet, respectively, the arrangements are cumbersome, and a consistent straightening force is most readily applied by supporting the racquet on another surface. Moreover, these devices are necessarily limited to a particular string arrangement. They are also relatively large and clearly could not be carried in the player's pocket or utilized on the court.
While U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,089,523, 4,733,866, 5,207,423, 5,310,181 and 5,310,182 attempt to overcome the difficulties with the sheer size of the above devices by providing rotating presentations of such grids, smaller versions of such grids, or single rows of such grids, such devices still present numerous drawbacks. As an initial matter, the devices are still relatively large and not readily carried by the player in a pocket for use on the court. Further, it is difficult to apply a consistent straightening force to the device without supporting the racquet on another surface. They are also not particularly useful with irregular stringing arrangements that differ from the traditional horizontal and vertical pattern. Finally, these smaller devices, as well as their larger counterparts, do not provide any mechanism for effectively straightening the strings surrounding the more elongate openings at the edges of the racquet.
Another common type of aligner utilizes a plurality of small combs to pull or push the strings into alignment. Such devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,776,591, 5,035,429, and 5,653,441. These devices are awkward to use, however, and may produce inconsistent results. As a result, as with most other devices, the racquet is often set down in order to effectively utilize these types of devices. As with the grid type arrangements, these devices may not be useful with irregularly strung racquets. Moreover, even if such devices are made small enough to fit into the player's pocket, the plurality of protruding teeth on the device present sharp edges that may snag in the player's pocket, making use of the device on the court between play impractical. Such snagging is likewise exhibited with the multi-angle bent wire of U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,071.